Cavaliers 90, Knicks 84
NEW YORK -- LeBron James and Mo Williams ignited a fourth-quarter comeback, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers over the New York Knicks, 90-84, Friday at Madison Square Garden.
James and Williams combined for 21 of the Cavaliers 24 fourth quarter points. Cleveland (8-1) trailed by six points with 5:24 to go, before the duo took over.
Williams' jumper put the Cavaliers ahead 86-84 with 40 seconds left and his four free throws in the final 18 seconds sealed the win.
James finished with 31 points and Williams scored 20.
Forward Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks (4-6) with 26 points, but only scored four points in the second half.
Knicks guard Arron Afflalo, making his Garden debut after being out with an injury, tied it at 84-84 on a turnaround jumper with 1:01 to play.
James took over down the stretch. He scored six straight points to give Cleveland an 84-82 lead with 1:16 to play on a fade-away jumper over Anthony and two layups.
A layup from James cut the Knicks lead to 82-81 with 2:39 remaining. He was fouled by Anthony going up on a layup, but missed the free throw.
The Knicks missed their first 10 shots from the floor in the fourth quarter, but still maintained a 76-73 lead with 6:32 left to play. After a hot first half, Anthony fell into a cold spell in the second half, missing his first nine shots.
Cleveland forward Tristan Thompson made two free throws to tie the game at 66-66 with 4:00 left in the third, but the Knicks ended the quarter on a 6-0 spurt to take a 72-66 cushion.
Langston Galloway scored on a layup and a floater in the sequence.
Anthony was 8-for-11 from the floor in the first half, with 22 points, helping the Knicks to a 53-46 halftime edge. New York whittled away an early nine-point Cleveland lead, moving ahead 36-35 on a 3-pointer from Anthony with 6:33 left in the second.
That basket ignited the Knicks, who went on to outscore the Cavaliers, 17-11.
The Knicks battled back from an early first quarter deficit to tie it at 21-21, mostly on the strength of Anthony's mid- to long-range jumpers, but Cleveland closed on an 8-2 run to move ahead 29-23.
Anthony poured in 14 points in the first quarter.
James led the Cavaliers with 10 points, including a sterling alley-oop dunk off the baseline.
NOTES: Cleveland G Kyrie Irving missed his ninth game of the season recovering from surgery to repair a fractured knee and G Iman Shumpert missed his ninth contest with a ruptured extensor carpi ulnaris (wrist). ... G Cleanthony Early was inactive for the Knicks. ... Friday was the first game of a three-game road trip for the Cavaliers. They travel to Milwaukee on Saturday and to Detroit on Nov. 17. ... F Kristaps Porzingis is the first Knicks rookie since Patrick Ewing in 1985 to score at least 80 points and grab at least 60 rebounds through the first seven games of a season. Porzingis entered Friday fourth among rookies in scoring and second in rebounds.